Location

How to Get There

This hike is located near Prescott, AZ.

To the Trailhead: From the Phoenix area, take I-17 to the junction of HWY-69. Turn left onto HWY-69 towards Prescott. After about 12.2 miles, make a left turn at mile marker 274 (the road is not signed). Take this well graded dirt road for 2 miles. There are a number of forks on this road but if you stay on the main road (or what appears to be the most traveled road) you will be OK. After about 2 miles on this road, the road becomes very rocky and only high clearance vehicles can continue. This is not a road you want to be on when it is wet. Drive 0.7 miles to a green gate. Hopefully the gate is unlocked and you can drive through it (closing it behind you) and drive another 0.7 miles to the trailhead and parking area.

addressone

Grape vine road

city

Mayer

state

AZ

country

USA

Region

Prescott Area

Hike details

Distance

4.80 [Miles] Total

Hike Distance- Details

4.8 miles for the out and back.

Time

3.00 [Hours]

Time-details

It took us 3.0 hours with a 15 minute break

Elevation Change

1,200 Total gain/loss [Feet]

Elevation Details

about 1200 ft gain and loss.

Hike Trail Type

Out and Back

Special Features

Water

Season

Best Season

May

September

October

Worst Season

January

February

December

Season Details

All year, as long as the road is not muddy or snowy. Best season is probably fall.

Date Hike completed

March 23, 2014

Solitudue

Solitude

High

Solitude Details

Excellent. We had this trail all to ourselves.

Difficulty

Difficulty Rating

Moderate

difficulty detail

Walking along the creek is very pleasant and the solitude is tough to beat. This is an easy day hike.

Permits

Be Aware of

Rough road to get to the trailhead.

If a day hike along a mysterious stream to a spring appeals to you, this is your hike.

Driving to the trailhead, you would never know that soon you will be walking among tall pine trees, walnut trees, oak trees, ferns and plenty of squirrels and such inhabit this unique area. You may be wondering why this is called the Grapevine Trail. Keep your eye out for the grapevines later in the hike.

From the parking area, you will quickly reach the trail junction for trail #9434 (signed) heading left across the creek and trail #4 (signed) (JCT 1R on the map). Stay right to stay on Trail #4. The trail will cross the creek a few times. Depending on the time of year, there should be a bubbling creek to serenade you on this section. After about 0.5 miles of hiking, the trail will climb out of the creek area and provides some good views. The foliage is significantly different along this section, more desert scrub and cactus. In addition, there is no shade on this section.

The trail returns to the creek near a gate to a fenced off section of the forest. Go through the gate (close it behind you - GATE1 on the map) and enjoy walking along the creek again under the shade of pine trees. The last time we did this hike (2006), there was a lush forest and ferns at our feet. Seems there was a flash flood recently that caused nature to reset itself in this area. As the years go by, this thick foliage is sure to return. You'll soon exit from a second gate, so close that one behind you as well (GATE2 on the map).

After about 1.7 miles of hiking, you will reach the spring that feeds this creek. On the right is an obvious rock seep and on the left is a spring. In previous years, the forest had been quite dense here. Now it is more open and lighted for pictures, but as a result is not as scenic. The hike continues to climb, eventually parting from the creek up to a saddle. There is another fence here and the trail continues for a bit, but we found this was a good place to stop, have some lunch, and enjoy the area.